RED ALERT: Senate passed S510 Food Safety Modernization Act

Strategy Page, Nov. 30, 2010

This is a sad day for America. The Senate just passed S510, the so-called 'Food Safety Modernization Act', which, as with so many Orwellian-titled pieces of legislation, does not improve food safety, but rather it marks the beginning of food tyranny in America by adopting Codex Alimentarius. This draconian bill fails on moral, social, economic, political, constitutional, and human survival grounds. Here is what it will do:

1. It puts all US food and all US farms under Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.

2. It would end US sovereignty over its own food supply by insisting on compliance with the WTO.

3. It would allow the government, under Maritime Law, to define the introduction of any food into commerce (even direct sales between individuals) as smuggling.

4. It imposes Codex Alimentarius on the US, a global system of control over food.

5. It would remove the right to clean, store and thus own seeds in the US.

6. It includes NAIS, an animal traceability program that threatens all small farmers and ranchers raising animals.

7. It extends a failed and destructive HACCP to all food, thus threatening to do to all local food production and farming what HACCP did to meat production

8. It deconstructs what is left of the American economy.

9. It would allow the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs.

10. It uses food crimes as the entry into police state power and control. The bill postpones defining all the regulations to be imposed; postpones defining crimes to be punished, postpones defining penalties to be applied. It removes fundamental constitutional protections from all citizens in the country, making them subject to a corporate tribunal with unlimited power and penalties, and without judicial review.

Do you have a condition or disease that you treat with alternative medicine such as herbs or homeopathic solutions? Under this legislation, your medicines can, and no doubt will, be banned. Good luck.

Propaganda: IOM Report Sets New Dietary Intake Levels for Calcium and Vitamin D

National Academy of Sciences Press Release, Nov. 30, 2010

Low levels of vitamin D have have been correlated with the development of cancer and other diseases in humans. Despite innumerable reports and studies confirming that most Americans are vitamin D deficient, the Institute of Medicine today released it's recommendation for lowered dietary intake levels of vitamin D and calcium. The upshot: "600 IUs daily meets the needs of almost everyone in the United States and Canada" and a review of studies on the health effects of vitamin D, such as protection against cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and diabetes "do not offer the evidence needed to confirm that vitamin D has these effects."

Then why is it, you ask, that your blood test came back showing your vitamin D level at a fraction of what it should be? The IOM has an answer for that: "The measurements of sufficiency and deficiency - the cutpoints - that clinical laboratories use to report test results have not been based on rigorous scientific studies and are not standardized." Oh snap. It's impressive what science can infer from a review of the literature rather than from actual research studies.

Once the new reduced dietary guidelines for D are established, it will become more difficult for ordinary people to get enough vitamin D to fend off cancer and other diseases. This is welcome news for the soft eugenicists who guide national policy.

by Liss
IOM Press Release

Doctors sound TSA germ alert: Dangers include syphilis, lice, viruses, ringworm

poorrichard's blog, Nov. 27, 2010

Syphilis, lice, gonorrhea, ringworm, chlamydia, staph, strep, noro and papilloma viruses all are part of the possible fringe benefits when airline passengers next go through a full hands-on pat-down by agents of the federal government's Transportation Security Administration, according to doctors. WND reported two days ago on alarmed passengers who noted that TSA agents doing the pat-downs that have been described by critics as molestation since they include touching private body parts were not changing gloves between passengers.

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Patriot Act for Food: A close look at bizarre propaganda for S.510

thepeoplesvoice.org, Nov. 27, 2010

Need a good laugh? Check out the bizarre reasoning offered in support of the Patriot Act for Food (S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act), which the U.S. Senate will vote on shortly. From a need to stop food smuggling, to the law is too old, to the terrorists are gonna get us, elites sure are shy of brains when it comes to credible propaganda. They must be drinking the fluoridated water and smoking Monsanto marijuana, or hoping you are.

A couple weeks ago, we reported that Senator Bob Casey informed his Pennsylvania constituents that S.510 will stop food smuggling in the United States. Never heard of the problem? That might be because the “biggest food smuggling case in the history of the U.S.” amounted to $40 million worth of commercial grade honey over a five-year period...

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Soda companies pushed pop as beneficial beverage for infants

Natural News, Nov. 26, 2010

For over a hundred years, soda companies been selling products with ingredients that we now know are linked to diabetes, obesity, gout and kidney stones. Those are some of the effects of the High Fructose Corn Syrup and phosphoric acid found in conventional sodas, and we haven't even mentioned the health problems caused by aspartame.

And yet, despite the fact that these soda products are demonstrably harmful to human health, the soda industry has been working hard for many decades to convince parents to feed their infants and children more soda.

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Heal your brain to recover from chronic fatigue syndrome

Planetthrive, Nov. 27, 2010

But what is behind illness related to toxins? Toxins affect and damage the brain. Today we’re seeing an explosion of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Lou Gehrig’s disease that are occurring at much earlier ages than previously. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) also has neurophysiological symptoms and brain imaging studies showed that CFS patients are dysfunctional in their ventral anterior cingulate cortex function, and other brain abnormalities. CFS has much in common with the neurodegenerative diseases.

The multiplying of toxicity is called “synergism.” All the pesticides, herbicides and chemicals exposure that you have daily is what is causing this enormous burst of cases of neurodegenerative disease. I talk about the cumulative effect of stressors over time leading to damage of the nervous system, the adrenals, and the immune system.

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Happy Thanksgiving: Food "Safety" Modernization Act Passes During Lame Duck Session

Activist Post, Nov. 25, 2010

When most of us think about "lame duck" Congressional sessions we think of a "do-nothing" government. However, this so-called lame duck session appears to be a time where legislation that has the most restrictions to individual rights is being rammed through.

It seems the members of government who have been recently voted out of office are vying for corporate jobs by pushing such legislation as the Food Safety Modernization Act...

This Act has the backing of establishment liberals who think more big government regulation will protect us from food-borne diseases derived from factory farming.  Their heart seems to be in the right place, but placing trust in this horribly corrupt government to "protect" us makes them utterly gullible. The vote of 74-25 in the Senate proves the bill was more broadly supported than just with progressives, indicating strong corporate support from the Big-Agri lobby that wrote the bill.

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Biotechnology Industry Spends Over Half a Billion Pushing Controversial Projects like Genetically Engineered (GE) Food Animals

Food&WaterWatch.org, Nov. 17, 2010

Food & Water Watch Analysis Exposes Government Connections to Biotech Lobbyists; Despite Widespread Opposition, FDA may Approve First GE Food Animal on Nov. 23

Washington, DC – Over the last decade, top food and agriculture biotechnology firms and trade associations spent over half a billion dollars – $572 million – in campaign contributions and lobbying Congress in support of controversial industry projects like genetically engineered (GE) food animals, according to a new analysis by national consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch. Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions and lobbying expenditures by biotechnology interests more than doubled during this time.

“The public needs to know that despite their concerns with eating genetically engineered (GE) foods, there’s a powerful industry spending hundreds of millions to promote products like GE salmon,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.

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FDA Hides Evidence That GMO Salmon Threaten Wild Salmon

EatDrinkBetter, Nov. 12, 2010

When the FDA held hearings on AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage GMO salmon earlier this year, they neglected to include a statement by other federal agencies indicating that raising the GMO salmon in open-ocean pens would violate the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

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Household Chemicals Linked to Early Puberty, Infertility

MedicineNet.com, Nov. 18, 2010

A growing list of common household chemicals may be linked to reproductive health problems, including early puberty and infertility.

The list includes phthalates, the plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA), perfluorinated compounds found in nonstick cookware, flame retardants, the antibacterial agent triclosan, and mercury, according to experts speaking at a news conference sponsored by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a coalition seeking to overhaul the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

There is a lack of data on many of the chemicals used today. "The absence of data does not mean they are safe." One of the group's issues with the TSCA is that it "grandfathered" in 62,000 chemicals without testing.

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Wendell Potter: "My Apologies to Michael Moore and the Health Insurance Industry"

PR Watch

In advance of my appearance with Michael Moore on Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight on MSNBC (8 and 11 p.m. ET), I would like to offer an apology to both Moore and his arch enemy, the health insurance industry, which spent a lot of policyholder premiums in 2007 to attack his movie, Sicko.

I need to apologize to Moore for the role I played in the insurance industry's public relations attack campaign again him and Sicko, which was about the increasingly unfair and dysfunctional U.S. health care system. (I was head of corporate communications at one of the country's biggest insurance companies when I left my job in May 2008.) And I need to apologize to health insurers for failing to note in my new book, Deadly Spin, that the front group they used to attack Moore and Sicko -- Health Care America -- was originally a front group for drug companies. APCO Worldwide, the PR firm that operated the front group for insurers during the summer of 2007, was outraged -- outraged, I tell you -- that I wrote in the book that the raison d'être for Health Care America was to disseminate the insurance industry's talking points as part of a multi-pronged, fear-mongering campaign against Moore and his movie. An APCO executive told a reporter who had reviewed the book that I was guilty of one of the deceptive PR tactics I condemned: the selective disclosure of information to manipulate public opinion.

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Obesity in America: Are Factory Farms, Big Pharma and Big Food to Blame?

Huffington Post, Oct. 25, 2010

One third of our economy thrives on making people sick and fat. Big Farming grows 500 more calories per person per day than 25 years ago because they get paid to grow extra food even when it is not needed. The extra corn (sugar) and soy (fat) are turned into industrial processed food and sugar-sweetened beverages -- combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are proven to be addictive. These subsidized ($288 billion) cheap, low-quality foods are heavily marketed ($30 billion) and consumed by our ever-widening population with an obesity rate approaching three out of four Americans. The more they eat, the fatter they become. The fatter they become the more they develop heart disease, diabetes, cancer and a myriad of other chronic ailments.

Today, one in 10 Americans have diabetes. By 2050 one in three Americans will have diabetes. The sicker our population, the more medications are sold for high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, and many other lifestyle-driven diseases. The Toxic Triad of Big Farming, Big Food, and Big Pharma profits from creating a nation of sick and fat citizens.

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Scan, Pat Down Or Scam?

OpEdNews, Nov. 20, 2010

The American people have become willing cattle by refusing to stand up for their rights and allowing themselves to be bamboozled by the financial elite ~ who use fear and greed to humiliate them and lead them to financial slaughter.

No where is this more evident than the TSA Scan or Pat Down outrage where Former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff ordered the full body x-ray scanners before the so-called "underwear bomber" scare. The House actually voted down the use of body scanners, but the TSA ignored the will of Congress and bought the machines anyway ~ wasting $25 million in stimulus funds.

TSA's (Janet Napolitano says) that the backscatter X-ray machines in the Airports are safe: The reality is that according to doctors at Columbia and Johns Hopkins "the radiation at airports is twenty times what you would get from an x-ray in your doctor's office."

Now Chertoff personally profits from selling them to the Department of Homeland Security he used to head.

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WHICH SENATORS GOT PAID OFF TO SUPPORT S.510 - THE 'FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT'?

Liberty News, Nov. 18, 2010

The following is a list of U.S Senators and the Bribes (I mean campaign contributions) that these Senators received from Special Interest Groups to either support or oppose S.510 - The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act. I have listed the names of the Senators, the Party and State, and the amount of Special Interest Bribes (I mean campaign contributions) that they received:

[some choice excerpts]
John McCain - R AZ - Bribe For: $118,070 - Against: $21,525
Mark Begich - D AK - Bribe For: $23,050 - Against: $2,000
Harry Reid - D NV - Bribe For: $133,985 - Against: $10,000
Pat Roberts - R KS - Bribe For: $167,294 - Against: $65,186
Arlen Specter - D PA - Bribe For: $209,124 - Against: $9,400
Ron Wyden - D OR - Bribe For: $58,700 - Against: $4,900

Full story
Related story? Bribery wins in fat-cat fantasy game

GM mosquito wild release takes campaigners by surprise

poorrichard's blog, Nov. 19, 2010

Experts in the safety of genetically modified (GM) organisms have expressed concern over the release of GM mosquitoes into the wild on the Cayman Islands, which was publicised internationally only last month — a year after their initial release.

The trial of the OX513A strain of the dengue-carrying mosquito, developed by UK biotechnology company Oxitec, was carried out on Grand Cayman island by the Cayman Islands' Mosquito Research and Control Unit. Together they represent the first known release of GM mosquitoes anywhere in the world.

Unpublished results of the trials, showing that the GM male mosquitoes competed with wild males, were presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting in the United States, last week (4 November).

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Chips ahoy: Big pharma to put computers in pills

People's World, Nov. 16, 2010

According to some recent news stories we all may be swallowing computer chips in the near future. Some big drug companies are planning to put micro-chips in the pills we take in order to make sure we take our meds (and of course use up those pills so we have to buy more).

Science fiction? Not in the least. Reuters reported on November 8, in a story by Ben Hirschler, that Novartis AG is hoping to get regulators to approve its new "smart pill" by 2012. Here is how it works. A microchip goes into the pill along with meds, it transmits its information to a skin patch which in turn can relay the information over the internet or to a smartphone.

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India's PIB Press Release: Population Control

PIB, Friday, Nov. 19, 2010

The Government envisages strengthening Family Planning Services through the following broad strategies:-

1. Increasing basket of choice by systematically and carefully introducing new and effective contraceptives in the programme. ...

3. Promotion of IUD 380A intensively as a spacing method because of its longevity of 10 years and advantages over other IUDs.

4. Promotion of No Scalpel Vasectomy to ensure male participation.

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Sperm Wars: Exposure to Toxins Harms a Man's Future Offspring for Generations

examiner.com, Nov. 18, 2010

“By altering sperm in an enduring way, an environmental exposure can leave its mark on at least four subsequent generations.” - Newsweek.com

It’s the stuff of 'mad science,' if you will: several research teams have demonstrated that a male’s experiences and exposure to toxic compounds alters his sperm, so much so that the nasty effects are passed on in his DNA. Not only is this seen in animal studies, but human investigations are showing comparable sperm wars too.

In one study, breathing in a pesticide tweaked male rats spunk, and their sons and daughters, grandkids and their offspring too, were born with permanent kidney and reproductive birth defects.

Full story

See also: Genetically modified foods, infertility and your sexual health

This Year's Flu Vaccine Losing Popularity

AllVoices.com, Nov. 18, 2010

More Americans Opting Out on the Flu Vaccine

The flu vaccine is not a popular choice to receive. According to Consumers Reports, a new study has shown that fewer people this year are going to get the shot. Among those who responded 31% are uncertain if they will get the new three-in one vaccine. The reason mainly is due to raising concerns about the safety and the effectiveness.

Canada has just released its report from their statistics showing that 60% of Canadians and 80% of Americans simply refused to get the H1N1 vaccine last year despite the coverage of media and government advocating for months to get the shot. This year, regardless of their massive advocating for the shot most people are still against to receiving any type of influenza shots.

Currently there is no evidence to support any sound reasons on getting the vaccine. No evidence so far has been given to prove that these vaccines are even effective. They only aide to guard against certain flu strains, they have no effect on the bird flu...

Full story

Also check out:
EMA: Unexpected Viral DNA In Vaccines Doesn't Raise Health Concerns (WSJ, Nov. 18, 2010)

Illness Plagues Gulf Residents in BP's Aftermath

by Dahr Jamail
Global Research, November 16, 2010

ORANGE BEACH, Alabama, Nov 15, 2010 (IPS) - Increasing numbers of U.S. Gulf Coast residents attribute ongoing sicknesses to BP's oil disaster and use of toxic dispersants.

"Now I have a bruising rash all around my stomach," Denise Rednour of Long Beach, Mississippi told IPS. "This looks like bleeding under the skin."

Rednour lives near the coast and has been walking on the beach nearly every day since a BP oil rig exploded on Apr. 20. She has noticed a dramatically lower number of wildlife, and said that many days the smell of chemicals from what she believes are BP's toxic dispersants fill the air.

Full story

A Common Sense Response To A GMO Shill

Update: My comment was blocked on the LakeNewsOnline.com site. They also blocked my link to this site. Some folks just can't handle the truth.

By Liss - comment in response to Nutrition TIp: What are genetically modified foods?

You are not telling the whole story. There are numerous pitfalls to GMO and GM crops. Foods that are genetically altered can involve risks of unknown toxins and allergens never before seen in humans. Food crops grown from genetically modified seeds can affect the weeds that grow in the same area. Weeds can access the modified genes which make the crops resistant, and after some years the weeds themselves can become resistant.

A personal example - in Tucson I found a huge pigweed growing in front of my house that was impossible to pull out and I had to use a saw to cut through the stalk. Thanks to Monsanto, there are now a lot of monster weeds invading other farmer's fields and urban areas.

Glyphosate, which is applied to make crops resistant to weeds, causes higher plant estrogen levels. Estrogen affects all mammals, including humans, and children are very susceptible to higher estrogen levels, which can be dangerous and pose long term health risks.

With genetically modified foods, there is always a risk of interactions or reactions that have never been seen. This can be an interaction between two different foods with modified genes or between the genes in the food and certain medications. There is not enough evidence because these crops and foods have not been in use long enough, and new varieties are frequently being produced.

Finally, there is no way to tell if genetically modified foods can have an effect on human genetics. At first it was believed by scientists and researchers that the modified genes were destroyed during the digestion process, but recently modified food genes have been found in the brains of some infant mice. This can be very dangerous in infants and children, and poses unknown risks for anyone who eats these foods.

I urge you to do some real research instead of parroting the 'party line'. Do you really think Monsanto or other companies vested in GMO give a sh*t about food safety? A Monsanto official told the New York Times, October 25, 1998, that the corporation should not have to take responsibility for the safety of its food products. 'Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food,' said Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications. 'Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job.'

Please do your homework. Don't be a shill. More info is available at http://www.sweetremedyfilm.blogspot.com

McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write UK health policy

Guardian

 

The Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald's and KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease, the Guardian has learned. In an overhaul of public health, said by campaign groups to be the equivalent of handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry, health secretary Andrew Lansley has set up five "responsibility deal" networks with business, co-chaired by ministers, to come up with policies. Some of these are expected to be used in the public health white paper due in the next month.

Exclusive: Multiple independent lab tests confirm oil in Gulf shrimp

Raw Story, November 10th, 2010

Experts operating states apart confirm toxic content in not just shrimp, but crab and fish too

The federal government is going out of its way to assure the public that seafood pulled from recently reopened Gulf of Mexico waters is safe to consume, in spite of the largest accidental release of crude oil in America's history.

However, testing methodologies used by the government to deem areas of water safe for commercial fishing are woefully inadequate and permit high levels of toxic compounds to slip into the human food chain, according to a series of scientific and medical professionals interviewed by Raw Story.

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Natural Extracts Can Cut Chemical Additives in Food Processing

Newswise, Nov. 12, 2010

Extracts from natural sources such as green tea, grape seed and bacteriocins such as nisin could be alternatives for food processors instead of chemicals as a means of protecting against pathogen contamination.

“There has been increasing evidence on the antimicrobial activities of the extracts from culinary ingredients such as green tea, grape seed and spices against foodborne pathogens,” Navam Hettiarachchy said.

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Coconut Oil is More Efficacious for Alzheimer's than All Big Pharma has to Offer

Natural News, November 12, 2010

A doctor`s husband made a remarkable reversal of his serious Alzheimer`s problem by ingesting coconut oil daily. Dr. Mary Newport had her husband Steve get off the pharmaceutical Alzheimer`s drugs as his condition just kept worsening with them, along with added negative side effects.

Alzheimer`s disease affects over 5 million in the USA, and ranks seventh in deaths from diseases. Steve`s condition has improved greatly since coconut oil was included in his diet.

Full story

Monsanto Buys Blackwater (Xe)

The Nation, Blackwater's Black Ops, Sept. 15, 2010

A report by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation (Blackwater's Black Ops, 9/15/2010) revealed that the largest mercenary army in the world, Blackwater (now called Xe Services) clandestine intelligence services was sold to the multinational Monsanto.

Full story
See also:

Digitaljournal.com, Monsanto hired mercenary Blackwater to infiltrate anti-GMO groups,

World’s Pilots Reject Naked Body Scanners Over Radiation Danger, Privacy Breach

Prisonplanet.com, Nov. 8, 2010

The largest independent union of airline pilots in the world is urging its members to boycott body imaging machines currently being rolled out in airports all over the globe, citing dangers of excessive exposure to harmful levels of radiation during the screening process.

The president of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 11,500 pilots, many of whom work for American Airlines, has urged members of the union to revolt against the devices.

Captain Dave Bates voiced the union’s concerns in a letter published by The Atlantic late last week.

Bates asks that members be aware “that there are ‘backscatter’ AIT devices now being deployed that produce ionizing radiation, which could be harmful to your health.”

The move follows the detention and suspension of an American pilot who refused to be scanned.

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Looming Medicare cuts "catastrophic" for seniors

San Diego News, Nov. 8, 2010

Looming cuts in Medicare payments to doctors could cause a “catastrophic” drop in health care services to seniors unless Congress approves a 13-month, $15.4 billion temporary fix this month, the president of the American Medical Association said Monday in San Diego.

The pay cut scheduled to take effect Dec. 1 would reduce Medicare physician payments by 23 percent for the rest of the year and an additional 1.9 percent beginning in January.

If the cuts are implemented, some doctors may be forced to limit the number of Medicare patients they see or face going out of business, said AMA President Dr. Cecil Wilson.

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Despite 2006 "Pledge," Fast Food Companies Targeting Kids More Than Ever

PRWatch.org, Nov. 8, 2010

Children as young as two years old are seeing more fast food ads than ever before. Researchers found that in 2009, preschoolers saw 56 percent more ads for Subway, 21 percent more ads for McDonalds and 9 percent more ads for Burger King than they did in 2007. Older kids saw even more fast food ads, and African-American youth were exposed to at least 50 percent more fast food ads than white youth.

Fast food companies have also moved beyond television ads in their advertising practices, and now use social media to reach kids. For example, McDonalds has 13 Web sites that get 365,000 unique child visitors between the ages of 2 and 11, and 294,000 unique visits from teens ages 12 to 18 every month. McDonalds starts targeting kids as young as age two with websites like Ronald.com. McDonalds and Burger King have even created sophisticated "advergames" and online "virtual worlds" that engage children, like HappyMeal.com, McWorld.com and ClubBK.com.

The Yale study confirms, yet again, that when an industry imposes a voluntary code of conduct on itself, it is time for real and effective regulation of harmful corporate behavior. Voluntary codes are smokescreens.

Full story

Beware of GMOs: Genes Remain a Mystery to Scientists

Natural News, Nov. 8, 2010

Some of the foods that scientists are genetically manipulating - and dumping into grocery stores - make it impossible for plants to reproduce naturally. These plants have what are called terminator genes inserted into them and terminator genes are literally designed to end the reproductive ability of the plant. According to GMO manufacturers, these genes have no other purpose but to protect the profits of the manufacturers by discouraging seed saving.

But what happens if these terminator genes permeate our own genetic make-up - the same way the genes of GMO soy incorporate themselves into the genes of our healthy bacteria? There's been little to no testing of this, but perhaps it's one of the reasons that animals consuming genetically manipulated foods often become sterile and have reproductive problems. Perhaps it's one of the reasons that human infertility rates have been sky-rocketing too.

Despite the extraordinary risks and deplorable consequences, the FDA stands firm that no testing is required for these new, genetically different foods that scientists are making up in laboratories. The agency is also staunchly against labeling these new genetic creations so that informed people who actually want to have children can easily avoid them.

Full story

Drugs linked to brain damage 30 years ago

The Independent

MPs and campaigners predict class action after failures to mount full-scale research into warnings left millions of patients at risk

Secret documents reveal that government-funded experts were warned nearly 30 years ago that tranquillisers that were later prescribed to millions of people could cause brain damage.

The Medical Research

Council (MRC) agreed in 1982 that there should be large-scale studies to examine the long-term impact of benzodiazepines after research by a leading psychiatrist showed brain shrinkage in some patients similar to the effects of long-term alcohol abuse.

However, no such work was ever carried out into the effects of drugs such as Valium, Mogadon and Librium – and doctors went on prescribing them to patients for anxiety, stress, insomnia and muscle spasms. 

Full Story

$1,000 for sugar water and salt? Big pharma inflates bills...and consumers pay

Walletpop, Nov. 8, 2010

If you've experienced sticker shock at the pharmacy and wondered why drug prices are always rising, even for generics, consider the value of salt. Baxter International, which sells drugs to health care providers and pharmacies, billed Medicaid $928 for $1.71 worth of saline solution -- a 54,000% markup -- for more than 10 years before a Louisiana state lawsuit caught the deception last month.

Baxter also charged the same amount for sugar water -- dextrose solution, an intravenous medication used to treat hypoglycemia. Cost to the company was just $2.25 wholesale, and so, a 41,000% markup.

...an independent report last month showed First DataBank conspired with McKesson Corp., a drug distributor, to raise, fix, and maintain the reported prices of more than 400 brand name drugs. The collusion, which led to a $15 million settlement with the state of Connecticut, raised costs for widely used prescription drugs such as Lipitor, Allegra, Asmacort, Celebrex, Flonase, Neurontin, Nexium, Prevacid and Valium.

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Ajinomoto and USDA collaborate on MSG research

Foodnavigator-usa.com, Oct.26, 2010

The US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Ajinomoto have announced a joint research project examining whether monosodium glutamate (MSG) consumption could aid weight management.

The trial will be conducted by ARS’ Western Human Nutrition Research Center (WHNRC) and aims to assess whether adding dietary sodium glutamate to foods helps control appetite and caloric intake in overweight women by increasing enjoyment of foods.

Full story

See also: US-Japan to investigate MSG effects on weight

Morningland Dairy: 50,000 Pounds Of Cheese To Be Destroyed. It’s All Suspect….Or Is it Just Suspicious?

The Intel Hub
By Doreen Hannes

On June 30, agents from five or six agencies raided Rawesome Food Club in the Venice section of Los Angeles. They covered the security cameras after about a minute, and proceeded to spend several hours rummaging through the place and confiscating product–about $11,000 worth, according to Rawesome. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a bunch of stuff, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture took another bunch of stuff, leaving lists of seized items.

All the seized products appear to have been sent for testing to the CDFA. (I say “appear to” because no one has formally said anything, but the report of contamination of Morningland Dairy cheese came from CDFA.)  The test results given to Morningland by the CDFA show reports for two types of cheese attributed to Morningland Dairy—‘raw milk Colby hot pepper” and “raw milk garlic”.  (Remember these, I’m going to test you on them later.) The scientific information on these reports is heavily redacted and lack the detail that would have been required to pass a college course on Biology….at a reputable school, anyway.

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Alcohol: Worse Than Heroin and Crack

Reality Sandwich, Nov. 2, 2010

A new ranking system based on a multicriteria analysis reveals alcohol to be the most harmful drug, beyond even heroin and crack.

The system developed by Professor Nutt of Imperial College London uses the multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to look at nine criteria that reflects harm caused to the user, which includes mortality, mental impairment, and dependency, as well as seven criteria that reflects damage done to others such as crime, environmental damage, economic cost, and family conflict, clustering them into five subgroups that represent physical, psychological, and social harms.

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Airport Screeners: Denied radiation badges?

ScienceFriday, September 13, 2010

This weekend, when traveling through the airport at Buffalo, NY I happened upon one of those new whole body x-ray scanners. Refusing to be screened that way, I chose for a full body pat-down. Upon gathering up my stuff, I asked one of the screeners if she knew how much radiation she was exposed to each day. She said she did not know and wanted to wear one of the badges that her friend wears at a local hospital, but was told “no,” that would not be permitted. She was upset with that decision.

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The Cell Phone Trap: The Health Hazards

Global Research, November 4, 2010

It is now inconceivable that our world could function without the 5 billion cell phones used globally. The new book by Devra Davis “Disconnect” deserves your attention. Indeed, if you use a cell phone a lot it should be mandatory reading.

Facing the truth is often painful, but if you care about protecting your health and the health of people you love, then this is a book you definitely want to read and get others to read. Make no mistake, what you learn will upset you, but beyond getting angry at companies and the government for not adequately protecting against a man made public health disaster, you will be motivated to change your behavior. The subtitle sums up the theme: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family.

Here are some of the eye-popping facts and insights I picked up from reading of this book.

Tests show young men who keep their phones in a pants pocket have reduced sperm counts.

Some scientists have, for decades, known about the adverse effects that radiofrequency causes in the brain. For example, radiofrequency allows chemicals and toxins from the blood, which are normally kept away from the nervous system, to enter the brain and cause disease.

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Monsanto and the big fat lie of food safety

OpEdNews, Nov. 4, 2010

Vandana Shiva doesn't mince words. Food safety is food fascism.

"Risk Assessment in the hands of centralized corruptible agencies is no protection for consumers as the disease and health epidemic in the U.S. linked to over processed, industrial foods shows. Even while the U.S. is at the epicenter of the food related public health crises, the U.S. government is trying to export its Food laws which deregulate the industry and over regulate ordinary citizens and small enterprise. This deregulation of the big and toxic and over regulation of the small and ecological is at the core of Food Facism ..."

Michael Taylor, the Monsanto executive who gave this country rBGH, deregulated GMOs, and kept GMOs all unlabeled, thanks to Obama, is "The Food Safety Czar" at the FDA.

That Czar, "[t]he person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history," has been using "food safety" as a weapon against small local farms and local food co-ops.
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The places being shut down are providing the most wholesome and nutritious food available and their tests come back clean, but the places are closed down regardless, often with no means of reopening. They problems is they are not within a just or even rational legal framework but one run by Monsanto, a company which devised a means to sue farmers for labeling their milk honestly, as rBGH-free.

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Americans less healthy than English, but live as long or longer, study finds

ScienceBlog, Nov. 3, 2010
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The study expands upon an earlier analysis by Banks and Smith that found that Americans aged 55 to 64 suffered from diseases such as diabetes at rates up to twice those seen among similarly aged people in England. The trend was observed across all socioeconomic groups.

The findings showed that both disease prevalence and the onset of new disease were higher among Americans for the illnesses studied — diabetes, high-blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, chronic lung diseases and cancer. Researchers found that the higher prevalence of illness among Americans compared to the English that they previously found for those aged 55 to 64 was also apparent for those in their 70s. Diabetes rates were almost twice as high in the United States as in England (17.2 percent versus 10.4 percent) and cancer prevalence was more than twice as high in the United States (17.9 percent compared to 7.8 percent) for people in their 70s.

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Aspartame Causes Premature Births

Natural News

(NaturalNews) Regular consumption of artificial sweeteners by pregnant women may increase their risk of premature birth, according to a study funded by the European Union and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers interviewed almost 60,000 pregnant Danish women about their soft-drink consumption, then compared these data with the results of the women's births. They found that drinking one can of diet soda per day increased her risk of giving birth prematurely by 38 percent compared with women who never drank diet soda. Drinking four or more of the beverages per day increased the risk of preterm birth by 78 percent.

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It's time to ban arsenic in poultry feed

DELMARVA MEDIA GROUP, Nov. 3, 2010

It's no secret that poultry dominates the agriculture industry on Maryland's Eastern Shore. But few people know that our increasingly industrialized poultry system routinely uses arsenic, a common rat poison, as part of a chicken's diet.

Unnecessary for production, arsenic is finding its way into the chicken we eat, polluting our environment in the process. It's time Maryland legislators put a stop to it.

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Scents can make you sick: unlabelled toxins

www.dailypress.com/health, Nov. 3, 2010

Manufacturers are not required to disclose any ingredients in cleaning supplies, air fresheners or laundry products, all of which are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, reports Futurity, which follows the latest in university research.

This is from a recent Futurity report:

The Household Product Labeling Act, currently being reviewed by the U.S. Senate, would require manufacturers to list ingredients in air fresheners, soaps, laundry supplies, and other consumer products.

Neither these nor personal care products, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, are required to list ingredients used in fragrances, even though a single “fragrance” in a product can be a mixture of up to several hundred ingredients, Anne Steinemann says. Steinemann is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs at the University of Washington and lead researcher in a study examining chemical emissions from these products.

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